There’s also been a spike in racist activity and hate
crimes in Spokane and other Pacific Northwest communities – indeed,
almost everywhere in the United States.

Racist graffiti, acts of malicious harassment and distribution of
hate literature in 1980 marked the emergence of the Aryan Nations in
North Idaho, recalls Marshall Mend, a founding member of the human
relations task force.

For nearly three decades, the Aryans and their splinter-group
associates were responsible for a series of crimes, including murders
and bombings, throughout the United States.

The Aryan Nations held
annual gatherings of hatemongers, burned KKK crosses and even got
permits for disruptive parades down Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene, all
of which severely tarnished the region’s image.

Most local hate activity disappeared with a multimillion-dollar court
verdict in 2000 that bankrupted the Aryan Nations. Four years later,
Aryan founder Richard Butler died, and some wishfully thought hate, too,
had disappeared in this region.

Now, though, there are two new self-proclaimed Aryan leaders in North
Idaho – Gerald O’Brien and Paul Mullet – who are fighting each other
for power. There are two competing Aryan Web sites. Another splinter
faction, the Aryan Nations Revival, based in New York state, dissolved
last week and, according to a Web posting, threw its support to
O’Brien’s faction.

Meanwhile, almost a dozen hate crimes have been reported in the past 14 months to authorities in Kootenai and Spokane counties.

The region’s spike in hate crimes follows a national trend that
started after the country elected its first black president in 2008.
Besides more hate groups, experts say they also are seeing an increase
in secretive, anti-government militia activity.

A Whitman County man who bragged online about being involved with racist
taco truck protests in Kootenai County was arrested on a federal gun
charge Wednesday.
Jeremiah Daniel “J.D.” Hop, who describes himself as an
anti-race-mixing activist on the racist website Vanguard News Network,
is accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Investigators spent most of Wednesday searching Hop’s home near
Pullman, as well as another property in Whitman County associated with
the suspect, said Don Robinson, supervisor for the FBI’s Coeur d’Alene
office.

Hop, who was arrested Wednesday morning, is not a member of the Aryan
Nations but is involved in racist circles, Robinson said. Hop was
convicted of third-degree rape of a child in 2005.

The guy is obviously a genius. I thought everyone loved taco trucks.
And the child-rape conviction just reminds us, once again, that a lot of
these people have, well, issues.

He also wrote of being influenced by writings and podcasts by Edgar
Steele, the former Aryan Nations lawyer who is currently awaiting trial
on federal charges that he hired a man to kill his wife. Harpham
promoted a speaking engagement by Steele in Florida in 2006 and wrote in
2007 that he “finally broke down and had to go out buy some silver,”
because of Steele’s influence.

Harpham eventually became an active supporter of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s
bid for the Republican presidential nomination; he urged others to make
individual rather than group contributions to help avoid any links
between white supremacists and Paul’s candidacy. Harpham claimed in 2007
to have made two contributions, one for $50 and another for $25, to the
Paul campaign but contradicted himself in other posts, saying he
supports the campaign but wouldn’t spend money on it.

“I don’t care about getting America back on its feet, what I want is
for Ron Paul to provide the conditions for us to build White communities
with our own businesses and schools,” he wrote on Christmas Eve 2007.
“We could do very well under these conditions and start amassing great
wealth to expand.”

But as Paul’s presidential prospects faded and the U.S. economy
tanked, violent themes began emerging in more of Harpham’s online
comments.

Harpham last posted on Jan. 16, a day before the bomb was discovered.
Ten days earlier, he had offered to let fugitive white supremacist
Craig Cobb stay at his home. It’s unclear whether Cobb, who faces hate
crime charges in Canada, took him up on the offer.

A murder-for-hire trial comes to an emotional end. A
federal jury convicted Edgar Steele on Thursday of plotting to kill his
wife and mother-in-law. But Steele's wife vows to set the record
straight. The Boise jury found Edgar Steele guilty on all four counts.

The trial was moved to Boise for fairness at the request of the
defense. Despite those efforts, Cyndi Steele said her husband's trial
was some kind of federal government conspiracy.

"They took our life and turned it into an ugly story, it is farthest from the truth," said Cyndi.

The story began when a mechanic found a pipe bomb under Cyndi
Steele's car. Investigators said a hired hand, Larry Fairfax, planted
the bomb at the request of her husband, Edgar Steele.

"I am the wife, the proud wife of Edgar J. Steele, and I am here to
tell you that this is a cover-up, a frame-up to cover-up Larry Fairfax's
crime against me," said Cyndi.

I have a hunch she's going to be showing up on Fox News to plead her case.

In any event, these are obviously all just "isolated incidents" that have no larger significance whatsoever. Move along, please.

Sara Robinson has worked as an editor or columnist for several national magazines, on beats as varied as sports, travel, and the Olympics; and has contributed to over 80 computer games for EA, Lucasfilm, Disney, and many other companies. A native of California's High Sierra, she spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She currently is pursuing an MS in Futures Studies at the University of Houston. You can reach her at srobinson@enginesofmischief.com.